Your savory breakfast links:
- Recaps and other assorted musings on last night’s overtime loss from Vogs, WaPo, NHL.com (and highlights), Monumental video (Oates, Carrick, Holtby, Grabovski, Volpatti, Wey), Monumental pics, AP, ESPN Boston, CSNNE (and again).
- Listen to Connor Carrick’s opening tally, his first of the preseason, from John Walton. [Capitals Voice (and for today’s Capital Minute, click here); more on Carrick’s first tally as a Cap at RMNB]
- All told, last night’s visit to Beantown featured five fights – but the one everyone was talking about was this knockdown, drag-out war between Milan Lucic and Joel Rechlicz. [Sporting News, PHT, RMNB]
- Speaking of fighting, RIP Fighting. [DSP]
- The match also featured the preseason debut of Brooks Laich and Mikhail Grabovski, who along with Troy Brouwer made up the team’s second line. [Dump ‘n Chase, WaPo, CSNW (and again), PHT]
- Shaking out the team’s lineup (and be sure to check out our Venn depth charts). [WaPo]
- News and notes from game day out at Kettler:
- In general. [Monumental video (Oates, Erat, Perreault, Rinkside Update/Laich)]
- Prior to his awesome game in Boston, the Caps inked defenseman Connor Carrick to a three-year, entry-level contract. [Rink, Capitals Overtime, NHL.com, CSNW, Patriot-News, Caps Outsider, RMNB]
- Tom Wilson continues to make a name for himself. [Yahoo!, and check out our take on where – or if – he fits into the Caps’ lineup]
- So what does this mean for Mathieu Perreault? [CSNW]
- A physically and mentally rejuvenated Mike Green is a scary (for the rest of the League) Mike Green. [NHL.com]
- Rejuvenated Green finally gets a bit of respect on a ranking of this year’s defensive crop. [SportsGrid]
- Oddly enough, John Erskine didn’t make that particular list – but he is ready for top-four workload once again. No word on whether we’re ready for him to be ready. [WaPo, Peerless]
- As the Caps’ training camp draws to a close, the Hershey Bears are getting ready to open theirs under the guidance of new head coach Mike Haviland. [Patriot-News]
- Gary Bettman says the vast majority of NHL GMs like the hybrid icing. Problem there, of course, is that the players have to like it, too. [PHT]
- Previews and predictions:
- The scientific march towards opening night continues… [Peerless (eight, seven)]
- Yes, there are probably too many outdoor games. But maybe we should all just accept it and enjoy. [Puck Daddy]
- Three better locations for the Winter Classic than DC. Because when I think marketable players and interesting locales, I immediately think… New Jersey. [THW]
- Speaking of the Winter Classic, the Caps’ marketing team is already using the 2015 game to sell season tickets. And to be fair, they’d be crazy not to. [Bog]
- The new Monumental Rewards program gives season ticketholders points that can be redeemed for all kinds of cool stuff – including an exclusive Mike Green bobblehead. [Caps Outsider]
- Finally, happy 25th birthday to Karl Alzner.